On the "Bender-Centric" complaint

[on:]

One of the complaints about Futurama that I've noticed is about how many episodes seem to revolve around Bender.  Personally, I disagree with this assessment.  It is my opinion that this appearance of Bender-centrism stems from two areas:

1) Bender is a very loud, outrageous personality, and attracts attention to himself very easily.

2) Bender is generally popular with the fans, and FOX, looking for ratings, tends to group Bender-heavy episodes together, thus reinforcing the illusion.

Opinions?

[Reply #1 on:]

Benders a great character, but he loses that when an entire episode is based around him. Fry can carry an episode, so can the Professor, and Leela most of the time. Bender is a supporting character.

[Reply #2 on:]

I dont really think the Professor can carry an episode that well especially since the ones that are based on him a pretty much funny because of all the other characters

[Reply #3 on:]

The only Bender centred episode that is among the best episodes over all is Godfellas, that is brilliant.

[Reply #4 on:]

bender is an great character among the others but still, no character could actually hold up all alone entire episode without other characters support. wouldn't it be dull to have only one character on screen all the time?

[Reply #5 on:]

 

Originally posted by Tweek:
The only Bender centred episode that is among the best episodes over all is Godfellas, that is brilliant.

I respectfully disagree. I found Godfellas to be rather boring and preachy, to be honest. I can appreciate depth and meaning, but for me Godfellas failed on two counts:

• The aforementioned 'depth and meaning' seemed very forced and, well, rather shallow.
• The episode wasn't funny or entertaining by Futurama standards.

Just my opinion.

There are some very poor Bender episodes though, Godfellas isn't the worst.

[Reply #6 on:]

To those who thought there were too many Bender-centric episodes: What do you expect? He's one of the 3 main characters, so it's only natural that there are going to be a lot of episodes centred around him.

[Reply #7 on:]

Actually it was through FOX's doing that most of the Bender eps were aired together....they weren't supposed to be shown in the order that they were so if people got sick of Bender, I don't blame them....no matter how funny he is you can only take so much....

[Reply #8 on:]

Eh, I don't mind the season 1/2 Bender eps, there's just a few sub-standard S3/4 eps that let the guy down.

Bender's good for several gag eps during the run of the show, but he didn't really have any absolutaly fantastic episodes (besides, by popular opinion, 'Godfellas').

[Reply #9 on:]

I agree with Tweek, Godfellas one of the all-time greatest episodes (and therefore the best Bender-focused episode).  I thought the balance of being philosophical and being funny was great.

I like the Bender oriented episodes, but honestly I think I enjoy Bender a lot more when he isn't the focus and every line he says is a joke.

[Reply #10 on:]

i totally agree with Tweek and brae,Godfellas is probaly one of my top ten favorite episodes,along with The sting and TDHAIP

[Reply #11 on:]

I don't see the problem with Bender episodes.  Yeah, "A Pharaoh to Remember" aint great, but overall he's a great character and many of his episodes are among the very best (Godfellas, Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Tv, etc).  And to answer those who feel he's a "supporting" character: Fry, Leela, and yes, Bender are really the three main characters of the series.  It makes sense that the show would focus on him quite a bit, just as with Fry and Leela.

The only major problems I can ever see with some Bender episodes is occasionally making him too mean ("Pharaoh" ) or giving him too much of the screen time at the expense of other characters, which is the same with any other character really.  I consider Fry episodes to generally be the best on the whole, but those wouldn't work without plenty of support from other characters either.  Even in "Jurassic Bark" Bender is integral to the story.

[Reply #12 on:]

Just as many others have said, 'Godfellas' is my fave Bender ep. 'Bender Gets Made' and 'Hell is Other Robots' also being in my top three of his. But I do agree that in general, he is better with supporting characters. However, Bender can take the main share of screen time quite comfortably (Godfellas proves this), but he has to be written right.

I actually quite like 'A Pharaoh to Remember', because although he's mean, I find his mean actions serve funny consequences on the other supporting characters. 'Bend Her' is probably my least fave Bender ep because Bender’s character gets a bit annoying and tedious for me at times. Still a good ep though. And although people can blame Fox for airing Bender episodes together, they can't blame Fox for having 'Bend Her' and 'Obsoletely Fabulous' together in production order. Why they did this I don't know...

[Reply #13 on:]

I think "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" is a great example of Bender's character.  Just like in the episode, Bender was made out to be a catchphrase-spewing, camera hogging character.  In that situtation, he's incredibly annoying (IMO).  It's almost as if the staff had to push Bender's wackiness up over the edge, in the hope he'd be a break-out star for the show (ala Peter Griffin). However, when Bender's allowed to be himself ("Goodfellas" ), he's much more tolerable.

[Reply #14 on:]

All the Bender heavy episodes are great... except for "Bend Her". I mean that was an alright episode but thought it was just well creepy.

I did notice this though Bender probably has the most charcacter specific episodes because hes probably the only charcater that Non-Fans know. When I talk about this show at work people just go thats the show with the loud mouth robot right.

[Reply #15 on:]

Amen evan. I found BSNBAOTV to be force feeding me a little too much Bender, even though he is my favorite character. I know that was kind of the point of the episode, but I agree that when Bender is on his own or supporting Fry or Leela that he is funnier and more tolerable.

[Reply #16 on:]

I think that in some cases Bender can carry an entertaining episode(GodFellas, Bender Gets Made), But certainly not as well as some of the other characters.

I think that if the show had lasted longer, we might have seen more Bender-Centric episodes that would have hopefully been good.

[Reply #17 on:]

I dont think its Bender centric at all, the people who say that are ignorant, i like episodes like Jurrasic Bark when he isnt the star, but is desperatly trying to be invovled, thats the height of Bender comedy for me, plus the heartlessness, "Do a flip"

[Reply #18 on:]

I Think Bender Is A Soft-Harted Wuss, But he just Smokes and drinks to be cool.

[Reply #19 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ttomalss:
1) Bender is a very loud, outrageous personality, and attracts attention to himself very easily.

That sounds right somehow.
 

2) Bender is generally popular with the fans,

Well, he is one of the three "main characters" ...

 

Originally posted by Fry_Afro:
I Think Bender Is A Soft-Harted Wuss, But he just Smokes and drinks to be cool.

Bender only smokes to "be cool".
He needs alcohol to recharge his fuel-cells (or something like that).

[Reply #20 on:]

I tried using that excuse that beer recharged my fuel cells and people just called me an alcoholic.

[Reply #21 on:]

The thing about Bender being used often is that he gets so incredibly predictable. If he encounters misfortune, you know he'll just laugh and then puff a cigar, if something good happens you know he'll just pull out a beer and say something about an excuse to drink, etc...

If you ask me, the Professor's a much better angry character. His anger seems much more unprovoked and random. Not to mention he has his own Angry Dome. Oh man, I want one of those so bad.

[Reply #22 on:]

Good point Lampy, the professors out now where anger is probably the best thing from the show.

[Reply #23 on:]

Zoidberg wasn't so bad at it either, in WMIBACIL. That was more a one-off though. Usually, he's just stupid.

[Reply #24 on:]

 

Originally posted by TheLampIncident:
If you ask me, the Professor's a much better angry character. His anger seems much more unprovoked and random. Not to mention he has his own Angry Dome. Oh man, I want one of those so bad.

You're already practically the real-life equivalent of the Professor, if we're to judge based on those characteristics. If you got your own Angry Dome, then God only knows what would happen to the universe. Some sort of space-time eversion, I could only guess.